The present invention relates to a hand tool for use in motor vehicles, and more particularly to a tire dismounting tool for large motor vehicles.
A hand tool for use in loosening nuts from an automobile tire has been developed and disclosed. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,992,964 to Osmond, issued Nov. 23, 1976 and the patents referred to therein. The Osmond patent is designed basically for use with a small motor vehicle. It is therefore, not suitable for use in dismouting nuts from a tire of large motor vehicles such as trucks, semitrailers, buses, etc. The nuts mounted on the wheels of such large motor vehicles can be dismounted only by means of a tool capable providing substantial torsion sufficient to cause rotation of a mounted nut. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 of Osmond's patent specification, the dimensions of housing, planetary gears 26 and ring gear 24 are not large enough to generate a force capable of acting to cause the rotation of nuts mounted on the wheels of a large automotive vehicle such as a semitrailer. As a result, the diameters of the housing, planetary gears 26 and ring gear 24 of Osmond's invention must be increased several times so as to enable the tool to generate an adequate torsion. Such structural modification, as described above, of the tool disclosed by Osmond will no doubt result in a bulky housing, which is difficult for a user to operate.